Doris Grumbach facts for kids

Doris M. Grumbach (born Isaac; July 12, 1918 – November 4, 2022) was an American writer. She wrote many novels, memoirs, and biographies. She was also a literary critic and essayist.

Doris Grumbach taught at several colleges, including the College of Saint Rose and American University. For a few years, she was the literary editor for The New Republic magazine. She published many novels that explored different kinds of characters and relationships. For twenty years, she and her partner, Sybil Pike, owned a bookstore called Wayward Books in Sargentville, Maine.

Her Early Life and Education

Doris M. Isaac was born in New York City on July 12, 1918. She was the fifth generation of her family to live in Manhattan. Her parents were Leonard William Isaac and Helen Oppenheimer. When Doris was six, her younger sister Joan was born.

She grew up in Manhattan and went to elementary school there. Doris was a very smart student and skipped several grades. She entered high school when she was only eleven years old. This early start meant she wasn't ready socially, and she struggled at first. She even developed a stammer and lost some confidence.

Her principal suggested she take a year off from high school. When she returned, she wasn't very interested in her regular classes. However, she showed a lot of talent in theater and creative writing. In her last year of high school, she won a citywide short story contest. This helped her get into New York University.

Doris received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington Square College of New York University in 1939. She studied philosophy and graduated with high honors.

In 1940, she earned her Master of Arts degree in medieval literature from Cornell University. There, she met Leonard Grumbach. He was studying for his doctorate in how the brain and nerves work. They got married on October 5, 1941.

After World War II, Doris moved around the country with her husband as he taught physiology. During this time, they had four daughters: Barbara, Jane, Elizabeth, and Kathryn. Before their fourth daughter was born, the Grumbachs settled in Albany, New York. Leonard taught at Albany Medical College, and Doris began her own teaching career.

In 1971, after raising their children, Doris Grumbach separated from her husband. She spent a year in Saratoga Springs, helping to create a new college program. After her divorce, she began a close partnership with Sybil Pike. In 1972, Doris accepted a job as a literary editor for The New Republic magazine. She and Sybil moved to Washington, D.C. Sybil worked for the Library of Congress.

In 1990, Doris and Sybil moved their home and bookstore to Sargentville, Maine. Doris continued to write, publishing a novel called The Book of Knowledge in 1995. She also wrote several memoirs, which are like personal stories, often about growing older. In 2009, they sold Wayward Books and their house in Maine.

Around 2009, the couple moved to a retirement community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Sybil Pike passed away there in March 2021 at age 91. Doris Grumbach continued to write, sharing her memories and thoughts on old age in articles. She celebrated her 100th birthday in 2018 and passed away in Kennett Square on November 4, 2022, at the age of 104.

Her Career as a Writer and Teacher

From 1940 to 1941, Doris Grumbach worked for Loew's Inc./MGM. She wrote subtitles for movies shown in other countries. From 1941 to 1942, she was a proofreader for Mademoiselle magazine. Then, from 1942 to 1943, she worked for Architectural Forum journal, eventually becoming an associate editor. When her husband was drafted during World War II, Doris joined the U.S. Navy in 1943. She served as an officer in the WAVES until 1945.

From 1957 to 1960, she taught English to older students at the Albany Academy for Girls. In 1960, she became an English professor at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. She taught there until 1971. While teaching, Doris also started focusing on her writing. She published her first two novels, The Spoil of the Flowers (1962) and The Short Throat, The Tender Mouth (1964). In 1967, she wrote a biography about the novelist Mary McCarthy. It was called The Company She Kept.

Doris Grumbach worked as a literary editor for The New Republic magazine. She wrote a column called "Fine Print." After two years, the magazine was sold, and she lost her job. She stayed in Washington, D.C., with Sybil Pike. In 1975, she became a professor of American literature at American University. During this time, she also wrote a non-fiction column for The New York Times Book Review. Her "Fine Print" column was also picked up by the Saturday Review.

In 1979, Grumbach published her novel Chamber Music. This book was very well-received by critics and helped her become known as an important novelist. Over the next six years, she published three more books: The Missing Person (1981), The Ladies (1984), and The Magician's Girl (1987). During this time, Doris also taught creative writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. She also taught at Johns Hopkins University. Grumbach was also a book reviewer and commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition and the televised MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour.

In 1985, Grumbach left her professorship at American University but stayed in Washington, D.C., for five more years. She and Sybil Pike opened Wayward Books, a store for rare and used books. It was located near Eastern Market on Capitol Hill.

Her Books

Novels

• The Spoil of the Flowers (1962)
• The Short Throat, The Tender Mouth (1964)
• Chamber Music (1979)
• The Missing Person (1981)
• The Ladies (1984)
• The Magician's Girl (1987)
• The Book of Knowledge (1995)

Memoirs

• Coming into the End Zone (1991)
• Extra Innings (1993)
• Fifty Days of Solitude (1994)
• Life in a Day (1996)
• The Presence of Absence: On Prayers and an Epiphany (1998)
• The Pleasure of Their Company (2001)

Biography

• The Company She Kept: A Revealing Portrait of Mary McCarthy (1967)

Children's Book

• Lord, I Have No Courage (1964)